


Grunt Work

by batzulger



Series: The Military Option [1]
Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Military
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-16
Updated: 2015-04-16
Packaged: 2018-03-23 07:53:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3760513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/batzulger/pseuds/batzulger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After a failed ascension what's a Slayer to do?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Grunt Work

###  1\. Graduation Day, Part 3

BtVS of course, is the property of Mutant Enemy. 

  
Let me ask you a quick question 'kay?

What happens when a evil sorcerer spends five or six generations making with the bad mojo to power his ascension to seriously huge and icky snakey demonhood and somebody blows him up before the ritual fully stabilizes?

Well as my best friend pounded into my chemically blonded skull in physics class, Energy can't be created or destroyed but it can be changed or transferred or something like that. And the energy required to turn a average sized guy into a supersized reptile demon had to be pretty impressive. So where did all that energy go?

The short answer is 'back' with the exact where being the Hellmouth. The Mayor had been leeching it for quite a while, not enough at any one time to break the seal of course, but when all that energy plus a collapsing school hit it. It opened.

And then got promptly filled by the mortal remains of Sunnydale High. They say that education is good for you. I think the poor Hellmouth would have disagreed. It was sealed with a plug saturated by all the passion, love, hate, elation, sorrow, hope and guilt that you'd expect to find in your typical high school. Yeah that's a lot of emotional baggage to to get rid of to get it open again. So it was sealed, but not closed. The energies of the weird couldn't get past the wreckage and ring their spectery dinner bells, so the things that go bump in the night wrote Sunnydale off as a beach resort with way too much seaweed and junk on the beaches.

As there were no new Hellmouth's opening, as this one was not  _technically_  closed. I could leave town for school and Northwestern here I went! Of course as my grades were not the most stellar which shot down any merity types of scholarships, and Northwestern is pretty pricey I had to pay for it somehow, and that somehow was the ROTC plus Illinois Army National Guard.

And so there I was, after a fun fun fun summer in Fort Leonard Wood Missouri learning to tap into my inner Judy Benjamin, residing in Evanston Illinois being a good study bunny as an undeclared undergrad, with Mr. Gordo watching over me during the week. Once a month I went out and drilled with my new bestest friends in the 33rd Military Police Battalion, and for my summer vacation I went to as many Army Schools as I could compete for. 

As to be expected if it had to do with physical ability, weapons handling, or impeccable grooming (read as inspections) I aced it. Scholarship I was pretty decent at. No where near the level of an Oz or a Willow brain, but my little Buffy brain just kept trucking along and I eventually decided I wanted to go into international relations. Apparently all those funky languages I learned chunks of in high school kind of stuck. So I decided to go into southwest asia studies, and began learning arabic and farsi. Did you know having a good foundation in akkadian really helps with any semitic language?

So I was a good student and went to neat schools that taught me about mountaineering and working with helicopters, and how to be a better leader. And at night I kept up with my second career. Chicago has a lot of nasty residents. This went on until September 11th 2001.

I was doing something neat called LDAC. It's this leadership course that normally requires you to have completed your third year as an ROTC cadet, but due to my drive, flawless PT test and marksmanship scores, and major, I had gotten a waiver to attend it. It was the last week and I was getting ready to head back to Illinois when we got the report about the Towers. After that it was kind of blurry, we were on lockdown then we were finally released home. 

It was life as mostly usual until November. I had just gotten back to my dorm room from class when I got a call from the Operation's guy at my Battalion.

"Sergeant Summers, this is Major Ashbrook."

"Yes sir," the Army is really picky about names and 'sirring' and 'ma'amming' I think it's a complex or something.

"You need to report to Battalion Headquarters in Arlington Heights immediately."

"But I just got back!...Sir!"

"I know, but the Department of the Army needs farsi linguists now. You're being activated."

"I'll be there ASAP Sir," I grabbed my duffle and my field gear and ran down to my car. Forty-five minutes later, I was at headquarters.

"Hey Summers! Get over here!" it was our supply sergeant waving at me.

I trotted over.

"Drop your field gear, you're getting fresh issue and you can draw your weapons from the armory in a sec."

"Say what?"

"That's all I got."

I dropped my gear off and headed for the Battalion offices.

"There you are Sergeant. Have you seen supply?"

"Yes Sir. Gear's dropped off and he's getting me new stuff."

"You've got orders activating you assigning you to Temporary Duty with 10th Mountain Division in three days. Here's the paperwork excusing you from school this semester with no loss of standing, and here's your deployment packet. Insurance, will, shot card, passport, 10 copies of your orders, and a Space-A preference form so you can catch an Airlift Command flight. Make sure all the information is accurate. You are under OPSEC for now so no talking to anybody about your orders."

"What can I tell my family?"

"Just that you've been called up to active duty because of the crisis. No word though of who you'll be with or what you'll be doing. Understand?"

"Yes sir!"

"Hey Summers, you ready to sign for your weapons and gear?"

"Good luck Sergeant, stay safe."

"Yes Sir, Thank you Sir," I headed back to the Armorer's cage and signed for my rifle, my pistol, and my bayonet. He handed me the travel papers and the weapons and shook my hand, "Be careful Buffy."

"I'll try. I just hope I don't screw up."

"The Wonder Woman screw up? Not going to happen."

"I wi...hope I can have your confidence. Mine left town about ten minutes ago."

"You'll be fine. Wherever you're going it will probably be a rear area where you can chill."

"I hope so, see you Pete."

"See you Buff!" I went out to my care and locked the weapons in my trunk after covering them with an old rug. Then it was off to a supermarket for some boxes to put my stuff in until I got back from wherever I was going, Fort Drum New York by the orders. Then I called mom.

"Buffy! How are you?"

"I'm great and keen and all that sort of stuff!"

"What's wrong?" my mom's trouble detector has only gotten more refined with age.

"Uh, I kind of got activated..."

"Activated, what does that mean?"

"Well, I'm not Buffy A. Summers, Sergeant Illinois Army National Guard anymore. I'm Buffy A. Summers, Sergeant, United States Army."

"What happened?" My mom was sounding a little frantic now. 

"It's because of the Towers. They're activating people because they may need them in the future," I hoped that was close enough not to be a total lie.

"So will you still be in school?"

"Kind of, the military bits at least...I think."

"Will you be able to call or write?"

"I'm pretty sure I can write, not so clear on the callibility. I'll let you know as soon as I do though."

"Are you leaving Evanston?"

"Yeah, but I can't tell you where I'll be yet. I'm so sorry mom," I felt like I was about to cry.

"You're a hero Buffy. You have to do things when you're called," she sounded calm, strong, "What do you want me to tell Xander?"

"Nothing yet, and if Wills or Giles calls, stay mum mom."

"Alright, I love you stay safe."

"I love you too mom."

 

 

Three days later I was flying to New York.

###  2\. Gender Misassignment

The US Army must collect trees or something. I had been to Forts Campbell, Knox, Lewis, Leonard Wood, McCoy and Ethan Allen Firing Range in Vermont. All of them, with the exception of Campbell, were loaded with trees. Fort Drum had them beat.

Even peeking through the tiny window of a C-141 at ten o clock at night I could see the snow covered trees below. I hadn't lived full time in California for two years now, but snow still creeped me out. At least winter meant less spiders. We landed at the post airfield and lugging our gear made our way to whatever our orders called for.

I pulled my field jacket and gloves out of my duffel and bundled up so as not to become a Buffy-cicle. The sun had gone down and the temperature was not rising. Closing up my duffel and slinging it and my rifle over my shoulder, I picked up my ruck and headed for an MP who was trying not to freeze while standing flightline guard.

"Hey there!"

"Hey there...?"

"Summers, I'm on temporary duty from 33rd MP," I turned so he could see my unit patch, "How do I get to the 87th Infantry Regiment HQ?"

He smiled, "They put a woman TDY with infantry?"

"Do I look like I understand guys with stars on shoulders?"

"Oh yeah...No problem. You're family, I think I can whistle up a ride over from one of the road patrols."

"You do that, and next time you're in Chicago you get a good dinner."

"Deal...Hang on. This is post four requesting shift supervisor."

"Got it post four. On the way."

A few minutes later a Humvee pulled up with a PFC driving and a Sergeant in the passenger seat.

"What's up Horwatz?"

"Lost sheep Sarge. Sergeant Summers here just got in and no pickup had been arranged. She's with the 33rd out of Illinois, I figured maybe we could give her a lift?"

"Where are your orders to?"

"87th Infantry. Yes I know I'm a woman."

"Somebody probably screwed up, but I can give you a ride. That all your gear?"

"Yup."

"Okay, hop in."

I threw my gear in and climbed in after it, "Thanks Horwatz!"

"Take it easy Sarge."

It was snowing lightly as we drove across the base. At least the hummer's heater worked so I wasn't getting anymore colder. Finally we pulled up in front of a typical brick building. I hopped out, grabbed my gear, and after thanking them for the lift, watched them drive off into the night.

I walked into the office area and took my hat off.

"Yes Sergeant?"

The Staff Duty Officer was a First Lieutenant with a set of crutches leaning against the desk. He had been reading until I walked in.

"Sergeant Summers reporting Sir," I handed him a copy of my orders.

He looked at them and his eyebrows raised. He leaned over and pulled out a binder and started flipping through it.

"Well shit."

"Sir?"

"You are Summers, B. A. last four 9719, E-5 Illinois National Guard?"

"Yes sir, why?"

"Because you're supposed to be male."

"Sorry sir. I can't do that."

"Chill out Sarge, this is a milpers issue. Got your 201?"

"Right here," I handed him a copy of my personnel file.

"Arabic AND Farsi proficiency scores? Mountain Operations Winter, Air Assault, and LDAC early, PT scores maxed for 18 year old male! Qualified expert with pistol, rifle and shotgun! Is this thing real?"

"Uh, yes sir. I tend to be a little bit of an overachiever."

"Yeah I'd say so."

"So what now sir?" I had relaxed a little.

"Sit down, take your coat off. You've reported as ordered, it's not your fault the Army screwed up. The thing is we really need linguists with what's going down. The division sent out a general request and you got tapped," he was stamping and filing my paperwork as he talked, "Tomorrow morning I'll talk to the Sergeant Major. He can get this cleared up. In the mean time, as soon as my driver gets back from the shoppette, he'll grab you a room over in the Headquarter's Company area and some bedding so you can crash. I can secure your weapons. We'll transfer them to the armory in the morning."

"Thank you sir."

"No problem Sarge, even if you didn't go to Penn State."

I rolled my eyes and laughed.

  
I woke up the next morning at 5, showered and changed into duty uniform. Other soldiers were in the halls and I asked a private where the food was hiding itself.

He told me where the chow hall was lurking and recommended I stay away from the waffles. A corporal passing by nodded his head vigorously in agreement to that. I wandered over to the food and stood in line for a while just waiting for the doors to open. This was the first time I had actually been on a military post as something other than a trainee and it felt weird but right. I got let in and flashing my orders and ID, was allowed to enter.

The food, except for the waffles was good and there was plenty. I may have overloaded my tray a little, as one of the mess sergeants was giving me the evil eye until I finished all of it.

Then it was back to the HQ to find the Duty Officer and unscramble the mess.

  
I had been sitting outside the Sergeant Major's office for two hours as he argued with various bureaucrats over the phone. Finally after a pretty impressive bout of growling he called me back in.

"Summers!"

"Yes Sergeant Major."

"What the hell am I going to do with you?"

"Uh...not shoot me?"

"No, shooting's for the admin remfs. Problem is, we put out a general call for linguists. You were selected because of your skill set and as well as your superb physical qualifications and military school rankings. It's just that someone neglected to select 'Male Only' when they were looking."

"I've seen women in this unit area."

"Admin, supply, mechanics...the linguists would be attached to forward teams."

"Sergeant Major, the only reason I went MP is because I couldn't go infantry. I may be a Cadet slash Nasty Guard, but I do know that I could be attached as an intelligence asset, regardless of gender."

"You serious? I mean what's coming up is going to be really nasty Summers."

"I joined the Army to pay for school. But I know my obligations. If I can help, I will."

"Alright, we'll get you assigned to a platoon and you can start working with them. We're on a short clock though, wheels up could be any day now."

 **a/n**

I know ! I know! Where's the crossover!?! I like logical (as much as possible in a Buffy fic at least) set-ups, and getting Buffy somewhere is the set-up in this one.

Buffy as a member of the ROTC Simultaneous Membership Program, is considered an Sergeant (E-5) when she is on active duty. Her Cadet rank is Staff Sergeant. Her current schools are Basic Training, Military Police Advanced Individual Training, Air Assault, Mountain Warfare School (Winter), Cadet Field Training, and Leader Development and Assessment Course.

###  3\. Over There

There is an important note I have to make. Tajikistan is not a happy place for Buffys.

I mean as former Soviet republics go it isn't that bad. Not that I really have anything to reference against it. At least Tajik, the national language, is a variant of Farsi and the locals didn't mind talking to a woman as long as my face was covered up. In fact in the Pamir mountains where we were based, they weren't your typical Sunni or Shia, but followers of the Naziri Ismalii brand of Islam. These guys believed that their spiritual leader, the Aga Khan, was a bloodline descendent of Muhammad, and considering the weird stuff I had dealt with, and the Powers That Be's meddling in my life, who's to say they weren't right?

Anyway we were down in the southwestern Pamirs right on the edge of Tajikistan. At the altitude we were at, about 10,000 feet, and on a clear day with a good pair of binoculars, we could see across the great Silk Road in Afghanistan, and far into Pakistan. It was so beautiful and bleak up this high. Winter in the mountains here, meant serious cold and wind with occasional blinding snow storms, which made all the officers blab about safety until the junior enlisted were sick of it and the NCOs got cranky. Not that my team had a lot of officers. We only had one in fact, Second Lieutenant Cutter recently of the United States Military Academy. Not exactly the crack leader you'd expect a reconnaissance platoon to have, but sometimes you gotta take the bad with the good. Our platoon sergeant, MacAllister was a decent guy and was pretty smart and one of the squad leaders, Staff Sergeant Ballantine, had fought in Mogadishu, but aside from him I probably had the most combat experience in the platoon, and it was all hand to hand against things that went squish in the night.

Anyway 5th Special Forces Group and the SEALS and Marine Force Recon had already been operating in Afghanistan by the end of October and had pretty much cleared Tora Bora by the time 10th Mountain had been called in. It was now December and we were gathering intel. My platoon's job was to see if they could find traces of the bad guys movements in the foothills of the Pamirs. With the altitude of the observation point we had, it would be extremely hard to hide from us. Once we gathered the needed movement information, all of us kind of figured the hammer was going to drop very very hard on what remained of the Taliban and Al-Qaida. So that's how I spent my Christmas. Sitting on a mountaintop looking for furtive characters.

  
Back at Drum, the platoon had accepted my attachment pretty well. I mean, once I had kicked all their butts in PT of course. The LT was an idiot when it came to leadership, and I was making with the careful mental notes on how not to command. I don't think he even realized I was National Guard on Temporary Duty. Sergeant MacCallister looked like he had seen it all before in a peacetime army. He had enlisted after the Gulf War, so this real bullets, real death thing was pretty new to him, but he listened to Ballantine and kept the LT off our backs and let us do our jobs.

Tom Ballantine had been a Ranger in Somalia. He had gotten so shot up he was Released For Medical and placed on Inactive Ready Reserve for the last six years. He had kept training though and when the Towers went down on the 11th, on the 12th he was at a recruiter's office begging to come back. There was no way he could go back to the Ranger Regiment on such short notice, so he took an assignment with whatever light infantry unit would have him.

I got along really well with Tom. I think he suspected I had more than just another typical ROTC background, but he never asked. He had the same kind of stare Wills and Xan and probably I did. Like he'd seen things he'd like to forget, but couldn't. I liked him because he was cute but married, he never talked down to me, and he wasn't afraid to explain the reasons he did certain things. My inner Slayer was still all about learning things to make her a better predator, and having a Ranger teach you one to one, on how to lead a scouting patrol in mountains definitely qualified.

The other three squad leaders, Niells, Lohman, and Jackson, were good enough though, and one or another of their squads was usually detached to be our perimeter security. Manning the observation posts on the one trail up to our camp, or moving down the mountain slightly to pick up the supply drops. The other two squads were the binocular squad, and Tom's squad was the headquarters section. The rest of the guys didn't mess with me after a few 'friendly' pugil stick bouts, and since I was so height challenged they immediately went into big brother mode. My job was to sit next to a radio all day and translate whatever non-coded communications we could pick up. Exciting I know.

Usually all I got was "Ibrihim you have any extra lamb? No, but I have some goat." or "Who the heck has my mail?" type of messages. Occasionally there would be something official sounding and I'd get it to MacCallister, who'd hand it to the LT, who'd say something stupid while Mac and Tom were sending it up to Brigade Intelligence. This system worked pretty well for the first three weeks.

  
It was the day after Christmas when the weirdness that is my life intruded. I was all snug in my sleeping bag with Mr. Gordo and the headphones lying on the ground next to my head when I heard a scream come through them.

I jumped up before realizing I was still in my bag and promptly falling back over, then inchwormed my way back to the radio and grabbed my notebook and the headphones. The ruckas had woken Mac and the LT up and they were looking around for any intruders before seeing me sprawled on the ground, scribbling away like crazy. After a few minutes of high-speed Farsi the original caller stopped talking and there were only other stations trying to contact them.

I put down my notebook and started pulling on my boots.

"What happened? What's going on Summers?" the LT was practicing his best screamy leadership style. Mac had picked up my notebook and was starting to read it...

"Screams and much gunfire and explosions in background...Ahmas please respond! Ahmas please respond for the love of Allah!

Ahmas here. What station is this?

This is Mahmud, Ahmas we need help! We need help right now!

Mahmud? What's going on?

We have been...Is that 'attacked' Summers?"

I peeked at where he was pointing as I buckled on my web gear, "Yup...attacked from ambush by hidden force. At least ten."

"...at least ten. Half my company dead!

Half your company killed by only ten? What's going on Mahmud?

Affirmative! Attacked from ambush and tore advance and rear guard apart. I was in center with cargo. Bullets can't stop them!

What!?!

Attackers are bulletproof! I saw one just take a full belt from a machinegun and keep coming! Where are our reinforcements?

Give me your location!...This location accurate Summers?"

"Sure is Mac."

"Where is it Sergeant?"

"Right at the base of this mountain LT. If it wasn't for the way the wind screws up sound around here, we would of heard it."

"Summers, what do you think you're doing?" I had scooped up my rifle and and some extra ammo and was heading for the tent's door.

I thought fast, "It sounds like something wiped out a whole company of Taliban LT, right under our noses. Command might want to know what it was. Also if we can get their codebooks and frequency lists..."

"Okay, Sergeant MacCallister."

"Sir!"

"Wake up a squad and send them and Summers down to take a look. Tell them no heroics."

"Yes sir. Summers, wake up Tom and his crew and let them know what's going down."

"Got it Mac..."

"Also what's this at the very end of the radio call? That's not english or Farsi is it?"

"Nope, that was a different voice, all deep and resonanty. I just did a phonetic copy of what I heard."

"Okay...Not that important right now, get moving!"

"Moving!" I sprinted out of the HQ tent towards Tom's. There was no way I was going to tell them that it was phonetic Sumerian and simply said "The Adversary comes, the Ally must fail."

###  4\. Cold Trail

Moving down a mountain side in the middle of the night in the middle of winter is dangerous tending to deadly. I could see fine even with no moon, but the weather was too cold for night vision gear to work very long without the batteries dying, and the loss of depth perception when moving down a narrow trail would have made them almost useless anyway. Fortunately the sky was clear and all the stars were visible giving the rest of the squad just enough light to work with. 

Tom was on point with a red lensed flashlight clipped to his web gear helping light the path. Red light didn't screw up your night vision as much apparently and to my eyes it looked like he was using a floodlight.

I was next, followed by Parker, the squad's machinegunner, and Tyler one of the riflemen-grenadiers. After them was Crooks, the Medic, and then the second four-man fireteam. We were spaced about ten feet apart and roped together as teams for safety. Parts of the path we were walking on had a sheer drop going about 1,000 feet straight down on one side. and a perfectly smooth vertical wall on the other. As the path got to be only one or two feet wide in parts, this led to a lot of slow and cautious movement. I didn't have any trouble keeping my balance or finding decent footing, so I helped Parker, Tyler, and Crooks as much as I could get away with, without revealing my secret identity.

We had descended about 5,000 feet in about an hour. From this point down the path was a lot easier and safer and the moon had finally risen so our speed increased dramatically. That let us get to a ridge overlooking the message location in about forty five minutes.

Down below there were several small piles of embers from burned out fires. I could smell blood and cordite rising. Tom grabbed the rest of his fireteam and left me with Crooks and the other fireteam to stand guard as he approached. I peered into the night but didn't see any ambushes waiting. Finally Tom and his guys slipped into view and started walking slowly down the small valley the Taliban had been ambushed in. I could see them clearly, but they were doing a great job sticking to the shadows. As I watched them I started getting that itchy protecty feeling I used to get in Sunny-D all the time. Something was watching Tom's team besides me and whatever it was it wasn't human.

  
"Hold on here real quick, Boyer. I'm going to do some checkage!" I slipped past the Assistant Squad Leader and into the shadows. I had a pretty good idea of the direction the other watcher was hiding in, so I slung my rifle and drew my bayonet. It wasn't a sword, but it had a good edge and it was well balanced enough so that at least I could throw it.

Moving through the rocks at my full speed, I had circled around behind its position in just a few minutes. I was downwind now and could smell this sick rotting stink, like something had died a month ago. I dropped to a crouch and slowly crept up. In a small notch in the stone was a large generally human shaped figure with a kind of lizardy head and a serious set of claws. When it turned its head I could tell it had huge glowey amber colored eyes and its teeth were just as impressive as the clawage. From where it was standing/lurking it had a great view of both entrances to the valley plus a neat getaway route that I was currently standing in.

I looked past it, down at the valley and saw Tom and his squad picking their way back up to the rest of the platoon. It was pretty obvious that the demony creature was going to wait until everybody was in the valley and then call in another ambush. That meant its...no his, this thing was obviously at least part mammal, buddies were close enough to call and near the entrance and exit. I really had no choice.

I stepped in behind wrapped my arm under its chin, lifted up and slit its throat. The skin bubbled and boiled when it touched my knife blade and it tried to buck me off or rake me with its claws. But I had cut all the way back to its spine so it didn't stay fighting for very long. Dropping the body, I took off back for the fireteam I had left behind, hoping I would get back before Tom's fireteam did.

I made it...barely. I got lucky for a change, the demon's goo had missed me, so I just smelled horrible but didn't absolutely reek of evil lizard thing.

"Gahh Sergeant Summers what happened?" Crooks was holding his nose and fanning the air away from him.

"I don't know, but I fell into something."

"Yo 1st Squad! Rally on me!" Tom flashed his light once, "Jesus Summers where did you find that stink?"

"Sarge," Tyler spoke up, "That smells like the slime on the rocks down there."

"Summers?"

I waved in the general direction of the corpse, "I thought I heard something so I quick checked it out. Only gone for...five minutes?" I looked at Boyer and he nodded.

"Yeah about that." 

"I moved, slipped, fell on something nasty, came back. What'd you find down there?"

"A metric shit-ton of weapons and ammunition all in horse and mule packs. A lot of blood and shell casings. Loose packs, rifles, and miscellaneous gear. And no bodies."

"Any tracks?" Boyer had slipped on his night vision goggles and was surveying the valley.

"Probably, but there was one mother of a fight down there. There was a lot of shit torn up, so until it's daylight we aren't finding anything useful."

Sergeant Boyer scratched his chin, "Hole up here until first light? Then do a quick sweep then back up to camp?"

Tom checked his watch, "Sunrise is in about three hours. Okay, we'll hang out and check. It'll be easier doing the ascent in daylight anyway. Team One and Summers we got first 90 minute watch. Team Two and Crooks, you got the second. Wake us at first light."

We found some shelter in a small split in the rock, and pulling out poncho liners and heat tab stoves, settled in to wait.

  
Tom shook me awake. I blinked, yawned and stretched, then smelled myself and felt like vomiting.

Pulling wet wipes out of my pack I started wiping down everything like crazy to kill the stench.

"Coffee?" I nodded and kept wiping while Tom poured some hot water into my canteen cup then added a coffee packet. I finally felt less gooed and buried the used wipes. Looking up I saw pink dawn light coming. In between swallows, I stuffed my gear back into place and put on my web gear. Around me I saw everybody else dong the same. I choked down the last swallow of coffee and shook out my cup before putting it away.

Tom led us down the path he had used earlier and we found ourselves walking through the wreckage of a battlefield. It was really weird. You could tell by the blood spatters and pools where people had died, but all the bodies were gone. I scooped up whatever papers and documents I could find and poked around looking for a radio. The sense of foreboding had left with the sunrise, so what ever they were they could probably only function at night. That and an apparent allergy to steel were the only things I was even remotely sure about.

My thoughts now were, 'What would they do next?'

This was a planned killing zone; a good one. They were obviously intelligent enough to expect reinforcements and had left an observer to spot for them. They would probably realize that their observer was dead, so they would more than likely try to find whatever killed him. That would be me. It would be pretty easy with the average demonic senses to follow our trail up the mountain so odds were good we would be having unwanted visitors tonight.

"Hey Sergeant Ballantine!" I herd a voice coming from up where I had found the observer. Hollings, the Fireteam 2 grenadier was waving, "Up here quick!"

  
It was uglier in daylight than at night. I had hit so quickly it didn't really have time to react, but judging from the muscles on its muscles, it could have easily cut me to shreds or beaten me to a pulp then cut me to shreds.

"What the fuck is that?" Boyer was staring at it and scratching his head.

Tom looked at it and shrugged, "I have absolutely no goddamned idea, on what it is or what killed it even," he poked at the neck wound with his bayonet tip and watched the flesh sizzle slightly. 

Crooks looked at it with a professional stance, "Well, off the cuff, its a cross between a man and a komodo dragon that somebody turned into a Pez dispenser with a bandsaw. There's like a half inch deep notch carved into the spine."

"It smells like that crap that got splashed on the rocks down there and that Sergeant Summers fell into."

"Summers, you've got the college. Any ideas?" I had a bunch of ideas, but until I could get a phone call to England I didn't know which of them were accurate.

"Only that there's probably at least nine more of them."

"Huh?"

"The radio message said they were attacked by ten whatevers. This is definitely a whatever as the stink matches the valley. It wasn't shot and the message said that bullets weren't stopping it."

"Well, it doesn't seem to like steel very much...How many claymores we got?"

"One each, why?"

"Claymore mines have 300 pellets. 300 steel pellets. Each."

"Tom, you're thinking that the bullets didn't hurt them because they're copper and lead?"

"Got it."

Boyers looked at the corpse again, "What killed this one?"

Tom looked around at the mountains, "I don't know, but I hope it's on our side."

###  5\. After Action Report

Tom formed the rest of the squad into a react to ambush formation as Crooks and Boyer poked at the body. 

“If you have to shoot these things, aim for the head. Preferably the eyes or the throat” Crooks rapped on its chest with the hilt of his bayonet. Each hit sounded like a dull klunk, “It feels like they have their own body armor.” He sliced into it and waved away the foul smelling smoke that rose from his blade.

“Yup. About two inches of muscle on top, an inch and a half of some seriously hard bone, then another inch or so of fat. Probably soaks up the impact pretty well. They have a couple of plates on the chest and the back and all their bones are probably this tough.”

He continued cutting in and pried away the chest armor, “Huh heart looking thing, two lung looking things, stomach, liver. This looks like the inside of a human…sort of.”

“Sort of?” Tom bent over to look at what Crooks was pointing at.

“Yeah Sarge, this…and this do not look like any kidneys I’ve ever seen pictures of. This piece here that looks all swollen and huge, on us that would be the adrenal cortex.”

“Adrenal as in adrenaline?”

“You got it. That would be an eighth of its size in a human. I’m not a doctor, but this thing’s intestines don’t have any sign that an appendix ever was there. It’s a pure carnivore and I really really don’t want to cut open its stomach and see what it had for dinner last night…” he looked out over the blood spattered valley.

“Ewww,” I couldn’t help myself.

“Damn! You know it’s nasty when Sergeant Summers acts girly.”

“Can it Boyer. Anything else Doc?”

“Couple of half healed wounds. Looks like it got clipped in a firefight, the rounds bounced off though. Maybe tracer as they look a little scorched.”

“Soviet ammo is steel jacketed.”

“Damn. Yeah that would have caused the scorching I guess. Sarge, I am seriously out of my league here.”

“You’re doing great Doc. Summers, you get anything out of those docs?”

I looked at the stack in front of me and shook my head, “Propaganda about the Great Satan mainly. Nothing mission critical so far. I do have all these to go through though. Did you know that you don’t have to have any command of spelling, grammar, and penmanship to join Al-Qaida?”

“No I did not. Well keep plowing through them. Boyer, get on the horn and tell Mac we’re all okay and investigating the site and that it looks like an animal attack.”

The way Tom was handling the weird rang a little bell in my head, “Tom, have you ever seen something like this before?”

“No…Not  _exactly_  like this. But I was on a patrol in Somalia where we ran into some things that shouldn’t exist. Let’s just say I learned to keep an open mind.”

“In that case Tom, I think I know somebody that can help, but I have to get a call to England. A secure call.”

“You serious Summers.”

“Yes with added Uh-Huh.”

“Boyer, you get Mac on the line?”

“Yeah Sarge,” he handed over the handset.

“Mac, go secure.”

“Roger,” there were a few clicks.

“Secure. What’s up Tom?”

“Is the LT there?”

“No he’s checking the observation posts…again.”

“Good, get ahold of Ron Griggs at Brigade and patch me in.”

“What’s going on?” I heard him opening up a channel on our long distance transmitter.

“Tell you later, we gotta get this set up before Captain Incredible gets back.”

“Hang on…” my slayer ears picked up a command to clear out of the tent and stall the LT, “…Okay, I think I’ve bought you more time and here’s Ronnie!”

“Master Sergeant Griggs, this line is secure”

“Hey Ronnie, Tom Ballantine!”

“Tom? I didn’t know you were in-country! What’s up?”

“We’ll chat later. I have a Jurrat Village situation right now.”

“Oh shit! What do you need?”

“Not sure yet except I need a voice channel to…” he looked at me.

“The International Watcher’s Council in London England.”

“You get that?”

“London, International Watcher’s Council, got it. Hold on.”

Tom handed me the handset and waited.

I held it to my ear and heard that funky english telephone ring, after three it was picked up.

“IWC how may I direct your call?”

“This is Buffy Summers I need to speak to Rupert Giles immediately.”

There was a sharp inrush of air.

“Yes, the Buffy Summers. Now get Giles on the line. this is an emergency!”

“He’s not in England at the moment, he’s currently dealing with a situation.”

“What level of apocalypse?”

“World ending.”

“Oh, okay then. I need info on a creature.”

“Description and habits?”

“Lizardy head, humanish body, smells like rotten flesh, claws, teeth, heavily armored, steel burns it, people eater, really strong, in Pamir Mountains, intelligent, pack hunter. Also there was a reference to an Adversary and an Ally.”

“Are you in Afghanistan?”

I thought for a second, OPSEC warring with common sense, “Close. Tajikistan.”

“You’ve interacted with the situation Dr. Giles and the Slayer are on. They’re nearby.”

The Slayer?, “How nearby?”

“In the same country and mountain range.”

“Any way to do the contactage?”

“I have a satphone number.”

“Give now!” I scribbled it down on my notebook cover, “Get them any information you can find on what I described!”

“Of course Miss Summers, any way to contact you?”

“Not easily, let Giles and…?”

“Faith Lehane.”

Faith!?! “Yeah okay, let them know the sitch and give them these grid coordinates. I have to go now.”

“Of course Miss Summers, good hunting.”

There was a click and I heard Sergeant Grigg’s voice, “Was that all for real?”

“Snoop!”

“Couldn’t help myself.”

I sighed, I guess I apparently was still the suckage as secret identity girl, “Yeah, keep it quiet though.”

“You got it Sergeant Buffy. Do me a favor though, ask Tom about Somalia.”

Mac’s voice broke in, “I heard it too, Summers put Tom back on, Captain Incredible’s back. We’ll talk later.”

“No problem Mac, just make sure the OPs watching the path are extra alert at dusk, they may be getting unfriendly company. Aim for the eyes and the throat. Here’s Tom.”

I handed the handset over to my stunned Squad Leader who had been listening to my side of the entire conversation along with Boyer and Crooks. He recovered quickly though and started feeding the LT a line about an animal attack, wild dogs mainly.

Boyer and Crook were just staring at me.

“What?”

“Who the hell names their daughter Buffy?”

###  6\. Updated Intel

"Yes my first name is Buffy. Why does everybody think that's so funny?" I looked to the heavens and pleaded for an answer.

"But c'mon Sarge. You gotta admit..."

"Yo idiots! That means you too Summers. We have a situation here and some enemy forces that weren't on the deployment brief. Summers, how much trouble are we in?"

"You heard the word apocalypse right?"

"Yeah?"

"It is as bad as it sounds."

"Alright, Summers give me a SALUTE report on the opposing forces."

I could do this, "Size, approximately a 10 man squad. Activity, killing and eating a Taliban supply convoy...raw. Location, right here. Unit, probably minions of an ancient and evil cult. Time, about 6 hours ago. Equipment, none really, but they are really bulletproof and vulnerable to steel. They probably are trackers so great sense of smell too."

"Okay, I get where most of the info came from, except for the cult stuff?"

"Uhm, it has to do with the last words I heard on the intercept last night...Sorry Tom, but I didn't think anybody would believe me!"

"Don't worry about that for now, what did they say?"

"The Adversary comes, the Ally must fail', and it was in Sumerian." I sighed," Nothing healthy tends to come from anything in Sumerian."

"You know Sumerian?"

"And Akkadian, and some Hebrew, Latin, Greek. A lot of prophecies tend to those languages."

"Why?"

"Probably 'cause those were the common languages when most of them were oracle-ized I guess."

"I mean, why would you need to know about prophecies."

"Ah, I guess you could call me a demon hunter?"

"Is that anything like a Ghostbuster?"

"Can it Boyer!"

"Actually he's pretty close. There's a demon, I take care of it. Of course I didn't have a cool place to live or anything. Knowing how to read prophecies can give you clues on how to take down certain baddies."

"I was right?"

"I said can it! Okay, you know this sounds insane?"

"Oh yeah, read the comic, got the t-shirt, but..." I pointed at the corpse.

"Point taken. Boyer, grab the rest of your team and police up all the AK's and RPGs you can carry plus ammo. Keep your mouth shut about Summers second job or I'll hurt you. Got it?"

"No problem Tom...Buffy..." he took off running.

"Doc, tell Tyler to set up an overwatch on Boyer's guys and also with the shut mouth."

"On it Sarge!"

"Summers..."

"Yes?"

"In Somalia my patrol, which then-Sergeant Griggs was on, ran into a group of creatures that acted pretty much like vampires should. Drank blood, really strong and fast, only died if you jammed wood through their heart, set them on fire, or cut their heads off. They had taken over an entire village and were raiding the surrounding countryside. We thought they were your typical warlords and ended up tracking the raiding party into a cave system. We were lucky in only losing four guys and finding out white phosphorus hurt them as much as it did us. There were three of them and they had killed groups of up to forty heavily armed soldiers. Compared to them how much trouble are we in?"

"Much worse. Vampires don't have built-in body armor and aren't as strong as these things. Also they aren't very good as team players."

"You sure?"

"Oh yeah, I've slain a lot of vampires. They usually don't post a security element."

"Yeah...I see your point. Just out of curiosity, did you kill this one?"

"Do I look like I'm that strong?" he smiled and shook his head.

"So this Giles guy and his friend..."

"Faith."

"Can they help?"

"You have no idea..."

  
During their weapons collection Boyer and his team had found the tracks of the demon's entry and exit point into the valley. Tracing it back, we found what looked like a abattoir with horse, mule, and human bones stacked in a messy pile.

"Not all the bodies are complete. I think they grabbed doggy-bags."

"Gee thanks Doc. Now I have extra nightmare fuel," Boyer looked slightly green.

"Sergeant Boyer!"

"Present!"

"Take your team and as much hardware as you can carry up to the rest of the platoon. Brief Mac on everything that happened. Make sure the LT does not find out!"

"What about your team Tom?"

"Tell the LT that we are investigating a possible weapons cache and will stay in contact. Let Mac know that if any comms come in for Summers that we get notified immediately."

"Roger that. You guys be careful, okay?"

"Hey we have to be careful. It sounds like we have to save the world."

  
We were now carrying an AK each plus plenty of steel cored ammunition for it. We also had three RPG launchers and six rockets, as well as an assortment of Soviet and Chinese make handgrenades. It wasn't that encumbering because most of our gear was still back up at the camp, but it was still a pretty sizable load. Tom was hoping that their lair wouldn't be too far off because they were traveling encumbered with chunks of...meat.

The trail was pretty easy to follow because even when they brushed away their footprints, their stench hung along their path, and in this cold weather the sun wasn't burning it away. Occasionally we would even find a mule leg or a human hand that had fallen off and been left behind.

We had been traveling for an hour when I heard a motor. I quickly raised my fist in the signal for a freeze then motioned for down. The team took cover in the rocks and Tom crouch walked over.

"What?"

"Engine. Getting closer."

I could see him listening then he nodded, "Good ears," he signaled for a form up. When the team was around us he spoke quickly, "Ready for a hasty ambush, no firing till I whistle twice. Parker you got the rear, Tyler you start the festivities with smoke. Doc you stay close to Summers. Got it?" We all nodded and moved out.

We had been moving down a ravine that paralleled an old road. Peeking over the edge of the ravine I saw a dust cloud coming fast. A minute later I could see an old Land Rover pickup rattling its way along. It closed quickly and stopped when it was in the middle of the ambush site. Ducking down, I looked over at Tom and he shook his head, not yet.

The doors opened and closed and then I heard a surprising voice.

"Yo B! Where ya at? I come all this way and no hug?"

###  7\. Augmentation Personnel

"Didn't I stab you and leave you for dead?" I stood up and greeted my sister slayer.

"Who me? Nah, I'm on work release. I screw up and boom no more hotness."

Giles stepped around from the drivers side of the Land Rover, "What Faith is trying to say my dear, is that the IWC has her on a short leash."

"Bastards," I knew how the Council liked it's manipulation, "the Cruciamentum isn't enough?"

"B, when I got out of th'hospital, I turned myself in t'th'cops. I was a minor and as th'Council Lawyer put it, 'Had fallen under the influence of a Faginesque Svengali.' I was placed under th'Council's loving care. G-Man even rejoined t'keep an eye on me."

"Hey Sergeant Summers!" Tom had stood, "What the fuck is going on here?"

"Sergeant B! You really are GI Malibu Barbie?"

"Chill for a sec Faithy. Relax Tom, these guys are friends and the reinforcements I was hoping for. The guy lgoing through tweed withdrawal is Rupert Giles, the wild child here is Faith. I highly recommend that you all treat Faith like a poisonous snake. Look but don't touch."

"Killin' m'fun B..."

"It's in my new job description. NCO equals fun and hilarity killer."

"These are the reinforcements?"

"Be careful what you say next Tyler, Faith here could break every bone in your body without working up to much of a sweat, and Giles has a highly trained gift for mayhem when he deems it of the important."

Giles had taken off his glasses while polishing them stepped up to Tom, "Staff Sergeant Ballantine is it? A pleasure to meet you. Has Bu...Sergeant Summers informed you of our purpose?"

"Just that she used to be some kind of demon hunter and you might be able to help."

"Ah, I see. Well it's actually the other way around. We need your help to save the world."

"She did mention she used to be in the apocalypse stopping business."

"Four that I can think of, plus a great deal of other miscellaneous evil."

"Sarge what the hell is this guy going on about?"

"Calm down Doc, Giles gets a little long winded sometimes. Just give them the ultra-abridged slay free version Giles."

"Oh? Oh! Well, this world is older than any of you know. Contrary to popular mythology, it did not begin as a paradise. For untold eons demons walked the Earth. They made it their home, their Hell. But in time, they lost their purchase on this reality. The way was made for mortal animals, for man. All that remains of the Old Ones are vestiges, certain magicks, certain creatures. Sometimes these creatures attempt to open up a way for their masters to return. This would be terrifically bad for humanity, and is dubbed an Apocalypse.

We, well Faith and I currently, belong to an organization devoted to stopping these attempts as well as any other supernatural predation. Sergeant Summers left the organization several years ago to focus on her education. An admirable pursuit I must say my dear," he did look proudly at me.

"Anyway we received word through various sources that something horrific would be occurring in this are in the near future, probably close to the New Year actually, and so we headed out to stop it."

"In other words Travers threw us in front of a bus again."

"I  _really_  don't like that guy."

Giles coughed loudly and Faith and I shut up, "Anyway, we received a call this morning about your encounter and realized it was probably not a coincidence. I used a...technique I learned a while ago to locate you my dear and we set off in all haste."

"G-Man's driving is a trip B, I think we spent half th'time in mid air."

"Faith..."

"Sorry G-Man," Faith looked contrite for a second then winked at me and mouthed the word 'awesome'. I tried not to laugh.

"We drove till we found you and here we are."

I spoke up, "Giles, how did you know these were connected?"

"Quite simple really, one of the Devon sources said that it was not the right time for the Adversary and the Champion to engage in combat. Your message included the words Adversary."

"Gotcha."

"So Mr. Giles."

"Rupert or Giles please."

"Giles then, this is all for real?"

"I'm afraid so. Now if I may ask a question Staff Sergeant?"

"Shoot."

"Why are you moving this way? I understand the engagement you witnessed was to the south."

"We're tracking them back to their camp. You have any ideas what they are?"

"Yes I do actually. They're pretty far away from their normal locale though."

"Where are they from and what are they Giles?" I was getting pumped, once I knew what something was and Giles could describe its weaknesses I could get to the slaying.

"The Northernmost portion of the Kashmir area of India. The last report of them was in the nineteenth century as a splinter group from Kali worshippers."

"That's really not that far, just across Pakistan from here."

"Very good my dear your education has been useful. Anyway they're a type of demon called a Rakoshi and their source of power was listed as something called the 'Otherness' whatever that may be. The texts were apparently not that clear. Their weaknesses are iron, fire, and sunlight. And they're quite intelligent."

"The Champion term smells like Powers That Be a pain in the neck."

"Unfortunately, yes Buffy," Parker started snickering so I kicked him...Just a little! in the shin. When he got off the ground he had stopped snickering.

"I won't even ask what the Powers That Be are because I think I'll get an even bigger headache than I've already got. Parker get up and consider that an object lesson on why you don't piss off an NCO. Back to the bigger problem, how do we handle this?"

"Find out who called the Rakoshi and stop them from performing whatever ritual will destroy the world."

"Sounds simple enough."

"Staff Sergeant, setting a goal is always simple. Accomplishing it tends to the more difficult range."

"Preaching to the choir. Okay stash your ride where it won't be noticed, grab your gear and let's get moving."

"Faithy, you got any spare toys with you?"

"B, who d'ya think you're talkin' to?" she walked to the back of the pickup and swung open a foot locker before tossing me a battle-axe. I caught it one handed and gave it a few test swings.

"Ya good?"

"Oh yeah," Faith was pulling out a pair of long knives and a crossbow while Giles had a shotgun.

Tom signaled us all to fall in and Faith stood next to me, "I thought you'd still be holdin' a grudge B." she whispered.

"I've had a lot of time to think about it, and besides if you've pissed off the Council I know there's good inside you."

"Alright, we are doing something really stupid guys. I'm going to call Mac and get the rest of the platoon down here ASAP, Captain Incredible or not. While they're on the way, we're going to do some scouting and find this asshole with the demons. We are not going to engage until we have back-up or our asses are in the fire understand?"

There was a lot of agreement and nod-age.

"Mister Giles any suggestions on what to look for?"

"Sculptures or carvings of many armed and many headed creatures. This is an Islamic area so any imagery like that is highly unusual. Any cave entrances. This cult was driven underground over a hundred years ago I believe, so they will try to keep a low profile."

"Okay, I'm calling Mac now. Summers, you and Tyler have the lead. Doc stick with Giles. Parker you got the rear. Faith take right, I got left. We move as soon as the call's done."

 

****  
Rakosh Property F.Paul Wilson

###  8\. Advanced Reconnaissance

We found the end of the trail about an hour later. It was an ancient temple carved into a hidden box canyon's wall and almost unnoticeable until you were right on top of it. The carvings on the canyon wall next to the entrance were old and worn, but had been carved so deeply the portrait of Kali was unmistakeable.

I stiffened and I noticed Faith did as well. The wave of malice that oozed from the place was almost toxic. We looked at each other and got ready. Faith pulled her hair back and tied it into a ponytail while I stripped down to my t-shirt before slipping my web gear back down. The temperature was below freezing so I was getting some weirder looks. I checked my pistol and holstered it, and took a pair of the Chinese hand grenades we had scavenged. I adjusted the sling of the AK on my back, and left my M16 with Tom.

"What do you two think your doing?'

"Checkin' th'place out. Thsi kind of stuff is what we were chosen t'do?"

"Chosen?"

"Giles, could you tell Tom the rest of it? I think that might calm him down a little. Need any firearms Faith?"

"Yeah. Gimme one of those rifles and some grenades."

I passed her an AK and I could almost see the slayer examining it and figuring out the best way to use it.

"Tyler, loan me your e-tool."

"Sarge you've already got one?"

"Just hand it over," he shrugged and passed over the folding metal shovel in its carry case. I took it and clipped it my webbing, "Thanks, I'll try to get it back to you. Ready Fay?"

"Well duh!"

"Let's take a look then."

We slipped into the main canyon area next to the cliff face as Giles began to tell them about slayers.

  
The edge of the entrance gave pretty good cover and we could smell rakosh B.O. rolling from inside. Waving to Faith to stay put, I low crawled across and took up position on the other side. I listened carefully but couldn't hear anything close. Faith tapped her ear, pointed inside, and shook her head. I did the same then held up three fingers and pointed inside. Then I lowered one, then two, then three and swung around the corner. I could see Faith mirroring my movements out of the corner of my eye. I had the axe in hand while Faith had her crossbow out.

We were in a twenty foot wide entrance hall with ornate carving on both walls and the ceiling. There were obvious places for torches, but none were in use. The carvings were some pretty nasty stuff what with torture scenes and demonic frolic-age, but there were no clearly labeled instructions for armageddon visible.

I started creeping along in a crouch and Faith kept pace with me against the opposite wall. Occasionally we'd have to step over a half-eaten human head or a ribcage that lay in the debris scattered across the hall. It went in about fifty feet with a few smaller hallways branching off. They didn't smell nearly as awful, so I figured they probably weren't being used. Finally at the end of the hall there was a broad spiral staircase winding down. Coming from the depths were growls and screams.

Faith crept over to me and whispered, "How long till we get backup?"

"At least three or four hours."

"It'll b'gettin' dark then...wicked."

"Yeah, we gotta find out how many there are though."

"You or me first?"

"I'll go."

"I got yer back B."

I started descending the staircase as quietly as possible. It was pretty slippery due to blood and other nastiness. The waves of malice were getting stronger as we went deeper as well. The staircase went five or six stories down and opened up into a massive natural cave. There was a small river cutting it in half and on the far side was a massive golden statue of Kali. It must have been thirty feet high.

Surrounding the statue was a mob of rakosh, at least a hundred of them, probably more. They were all bowing and praying to the statue and the old naked man standing in front of it. The man had gray hair and a long scraggly gray beard and looked like the kind of guy that wanted a buck for wiping your windshield. Also he was really naked.

Then he began to speak in that voice I had heard at the end of the radio call. He was speaking in a language I didn't know but the rakosh did, and they were really getting into it. In fact I was almost expecting them to start calling out "Amen!" and "Say it Brother!".

"Yo B time to scoot?"

"Let's get out of here!"

We moved back to the stairs and started hauling butt up them. The faithful down below were making enough noise that they wouldn't hear us unless we started screaming as well. We kept running down the entry hall and stopped before we hit sunlight so we wouldn't spook any of the rifles that definitely pointed our way.

Once we were out we sprinted back to the team.

"How bad Summers?"

"Company strength easy, and they're all death goddess worshipping zealots as well as being demons."

"My word," the polishing reflex triggered.

""B speaks th'truth."

"So you two are some kind of mystical warriors?"

I looked at Tyler, and without a word thumbed a round of AK ammo out of a magazine. Laying it across my right index and middle fingers, I pressed down with my right thumb in the center of the steel cartridge. Tyler went white as the round bent in half.

"Damn!"

"That could have been your face...Any more questions?"

"Nooo...I'm cool."

"So now what?"

"When will the rest of the platoon get here?"

"Well, there's some trouble with that. The Taliban have apparently shown up to rescue their buddies or at least salvage the caravan."

"How many?"

"The technical term is too fucking many. At least a couple of companies."

"About two hundred or so men," I translated for Faith and Giles.

"This is gettin' better an'better."

"Tom, I take it these reinforcements are between the platoon and us?"

"You take it correctly."

"My dears, what are they doing in there?"

"Sorry Giles, they're praying to a big Kali statue and some old naked guy."

"Yeah, they're doin' the prayers in some language I don't recognize, you B?"

I shook my head.

"Probably Hindu-Urdu or the like."

"Well whatever they're praying for they're buildin' up power, start t'make m'brain itch."

"That means we have to stop it now."

"I know Giles, but how? Our reinforcements are trapped behind another army. There's no way...unless we bring one army to the other."

"Alright B's got a plan!"

"Sergeant Summers?"

"Tom, get moving back towards the platoon. Giles go with them. Leave me an RPG and three rockets. Faith?"

"Ayup?"

"How are you at playing tag?"

###  9\. Tactical Bait

Faith and I watched my team plus Giles move off into the distance. I felt better when they were out of sight. Tyler and Tom were married and Crooks had a fiance. There was no reason to get them too involved in my battles. Faith on the other hand was the only one who could understand what being Chosen meant.

"B, got a penny for 'em."

"Hmm?"

"Yer thoughts."

"I was just thinking about us. About being a slayer. I tried to get away but..."

"Th'job chases ya down. You gettin' some down time was one o'th'main reasons I signed up. I did a lotta thinkin' too, ya know."

"We both screwed up, me with the especially. I'm sorry."

"With th'Council's lovin' help we both screwed up."

"After this is over, want to stage a coup?"

"Yer on! Now how long should we wait till we start bustin' heads here?"

"Let's give the team an hour, that way we have some running room."

"Sounds good, now what is that piece of pipe yer playin' with."

"Oh Faith, let me introduce you to a Slayer's new best friend. This is an RPG-7 Rocket Propelled Grenade launcher, and this," I pulled out a cylindrically headed rocket, " is its bestest buddy the TBG-7V Thermobaric warhead."

"Sounds dangerous."

"Oh, it is. It really, truly, awesomely is."

  
Time flies when you're discussing weapons and tactics as well as guys, and an hour and a half had passed. The sun was getting ready to start dipping below the mountain peaks to the west of us so we figured it was time to start the party.

I had given Faith all my grenades as I was hauling around the RPG. My axe was slung on my back with an impromptu harness of 550 cord as my hands were full. Faith had her knives out and took the lead. We jogged up to the entrance and carefully peered in from opposite sides again. They still hadn't set any guards, but the feeling of malice we had picked up before was now almost overwhelming. I moved over to Faith.

"Feels like they're still building up the evil mojo."

"That's good. Should we piss in their cornflakes?"

"Sounds like plannage."

We ran down the hallway to the top of the stairs. I set up a pair of claymores aiming downwards and stashed the clackers to the side.

"What're those for?"

"Insurance policy. To keep them mad and wounded."

'Works for me."

We headed down the stairway, Faith in the lead. The growls started getting louder again as we descended. Then Faith waved me back and climbed up on the handrail before diving over the side. There was the sound of a thud then a, "All clear B!"

I ran down to find Faith trying to pull one of her knives from the eyesocket of a rakosh.

"Can I get a hand here? I way have hit him a little too hard."

I I snickered then joined her in prying the blade free from the skull, "Nice work."

She smiled, "Thanks, now I'm even with you."

"This isn't a competition..." we both grinned at that.

"They are NOT expectin' th'Chosen Two."

"Well that's a shame. Shall we make with the intros?"

"Oh yeah!"

She sheathed her blades and pulled out a pair of Type 59 Chinese grenades. I knelt next to the entryway to the cave and   
aimed at a point in the middle of the praying Rakosh. Clicking off the safety I took a breath released half of it and squeezed the trigger. The rocket took off with a bang from the gunpowder boost charge sending it forward about 30 feet, then the rocket ignited and with a roar blazed into the pack before hitting the ground and exploding. As I launched, Faith pulled the pins on both grenades and whipped them at the naked guy.

The TBG-7V is not your typical explosive on a stick. It was actually designed for urban warfare and is a remarkably compact Fuel-Air Explosive warhead. Simplified for the bleached blondes in the Foreign Weapons Familiarization Course, that meant it sprayed out a highly boom inducing vapor over an area, and then set it on fire.

Before it hit of course we were already running up the stairs at top non-stealthy slayer-speed, so we didn't exactly see the explosions but the booms and screams told us we had gotten their attention. At the top of the stairs Faith rolled a few more grenades down the stairs and got some satisfying yelps and howls. When a grenade explodes it sends out chunks of red hot steel wire as shrapnel. It appeared that rakosh were not enjoying our games.

I had reloaded with a standard warhead rocket and shot the first rakosh I saw come around the bend in the stairs. He was about 40 feet away and I hit him dead center. The anti-armor warhead blew a hole clear through him and the two rakosh right behind him.Faith had backed past the entry to the stairs and was now in the main hall, so I followed her and scooped up the claymore clackers.

"Can you get them to clump together?"

"Of course B!" Faith actually sounded offended, but I looked over at her and she was smiling. She unslung her AK and sent a burst just over their heads. The rounds richocheted off the stairwell and into the backs of the massing rakosh.

That got them roaring and charging, "Faith back around the corner and against the wall!"

"Ayup!" with a sliding dive she landed next to me and I squeezed both clackers.

The explosions were loud enough to deafen both of us and the walls shook from the backblast. I peeked around the doorway and saw black blood splattered all over the stairwell and chunks of the lead rakoshi scattered across the floor.

Faith was up and firing at the ones that hadn't been knocked flat and was slowly retreating. I reloaded the RPG with the last rocket and caught up to her mouthing, "Time to go," she nodded and we started running

When we got the mouth of the box canyon I stopped and turned to look at the temple entrance. Dusk had come and the glowey eyes were gathering just inside the shadows. I knelt and fired the last rocket into the middle of the pack and dropped the now-useless launcher before unslinging my rifle. We continued to fire single shots at the glowing eyes until they had all retreated out of sight into the entrance hall. By this time our hearing had returned. 

"Damn B, I wish we could keep one in our standard slaying kit!" she was looking down at the RPG.

"I used something like it against a supposedly unkillable demon a few years back. Turns out ancient evil doesn't do to well against modern firepower."

"Amen. So th'plan is?"

"When they start their next rush we pull back. I bet they can climb like anything with those claws and their strength so we have to get out of the canyons quick."

"Otherwise they'll get around us and cut us off?"

"Yup."

"They appear. We run like hell."

"You got it."

"The shadows had apparently gotten long enough for them so we started seeing the glowing eyes appear.

"Time to leave!" we started running.

  
Not only were they strong and fast, but they didn't tire easily. We had been going for about six miles and could still hear their roars and howls.

"Hang on Faith, I'm going to leave them another present! Hand me that rock and a grenade!"

Dropping to one knee I pulled the pin of the grenade but kept the spoon clamped down. Laying it on the ground in the center of the ravine, I laid the rock on top of it, keeping the spoon depressed.

"Let's go!"

"Nasty B.

"I try Faithy."

We had made it a half mile before we heard the bang.

"To bad so sad."

"Sucks t'be them."

We passed where Giles had parked his Land Rover and it was gone, but we saw its tracks in the ravine. If the team was mounted we were further behind than I thought, so we picked up the pace.

###  10\. Combined Arms

I figured they were going to be a little more careful on their advance so we slowed to a jog, staying just far enough ahead that we could hear them.

When we were twenty or so miles from the valley I yelled at Faith, "Time to make the call!"

She nodded and pulled out Giles' satellite phone and handed it over.

I held it to my ear, "87th Infantry."

"This is Sergeant Buffy Anne Summers, attached to 1st Platoon B Company in Tajikistan. I am calling on civilian system due to separation from unit caused by hostile fire. I need to be connected to Master Sergeant Ronald Griggs Headquarters Section Tajikistan. This is not a joke," I squeezed off a short burst near the handset, "I am taking hostile fire."

"Do you have a CEOI?"

"No, I have been separated from normal comms."

"One moment," I heard the hold button click.

"This gonna work B?"

"I hope so, otherwise this will be of the painful."

"Got that right."

"Sergeant Summers, this is Lieutenant Chandler."

"Oh sir, how's the leg?"

"You do remember me. I remember you too, connecting to Griggs now," There were several clicks and buzzes then, "Location Davis."

"This is Lieutenant Chandler at Drum, I have a priority transmission from a soldier in the field for Master Sergeant Griggs."

"Wait one."

"Griggs."

"You're on Summers."

"Master Sergeant, this is Sergeant Summers, I'm attached to Lieutenant Cutter's Platoon."

"Yes Sergeant, what's the problem?"

"I got separated from my unit and stumbled into a multiple company element of hostiles staging just below and out of line of sight of the OP. Requesting Close Air Support ASAP. I'm sorry about current comms routing but civilian systems were all I had available."

"Where's Staff Sergeant Ballantine?"

"He is close to the threat at this time I believe. He was attempting to contact the LT to notify him of the threat. Our field communications have been messed up."

"We received word that there was a large force massing."

"This is an additional force moving down from the north along a large ravine. I believe it is attempting to link up with the southern force and is definitely hostile judging from it's battle cries."

"Description of force?"

"Heavily armed religious zealots. Very similar to Somali raiders."

"Got it. I'll see what I can do, number of sat phone you're on?"

I gave it to him and he hung up.

"What was that about Somali raiders."

"He ran into some vamps in Somalia back in 1993."

"So ya were cluin' him?"

"Yup. Now we gotta hustle. I do not want to be anywhere near the area of a potential airstrike."

  
We had picked up the pace and superwomen though we were, even we were starting to get tired. Then the satphone rang.

"Summers."

"This is Griggs how bad is it?"

"Several hundred almost unkillable pissed off demons charging straight for a Taliban short battalion with a platoon of light infantry in the combat zone."

"You don't think small."

"Never been accused of it before."

"Alright, I got a pair of Apaches coming over to take a look see. The Rules of Engagement prevent us from firing first though..."

"I got it. Hey can you get a fix on me?"

"As a matter of fact...AWACS has got your signal approximately four miles from engagement zone. Moving at 22 miles per hour. You found transport?"

"Yeah...I got lucky."

"Alright, I'll call Mac and let him know what the situation is. Griggs out."

"We got about 10 minutes or so till showtime Faith."

"I c'n hardly wait."

  
We slowed as we got close to the canyon. It sounded like we had a decent lead on the rakosh and we needed to catch our breath. As we got closer I could hear low conversation in English.

"So we're here, now what?"

"Now we wait for the ladies."

Faith snorted, "Yo G-Man I ain't what most folks consider a lady!"

"Faith? Buffy? Are you two all right?"

"Just peachy," We had rounded the bend and saw the Land Rover parked with the fire team in a loose formation looking towards the canyon. Giles and Tom moved forward.

"Mac just sent me a flash message. Apparently you called in air support?"

"Yeah, now for the next part of my brilliant plannage, have you spotted their commander yet?"

"Sure have. He's been hanging out near the east end of the canyon."

I scooped up my uniform blouse and field jacket and put them on before wrapping my face with my wooly scarf. I then dropped all my weapons, "Time to make nice with the neighbors and the bad guys are about ten to fifteen miles behind us."

Tom had dropped all his weapons except for a pistol and his knife and nodded, "Let's go!"

We moved across the rocks to the eastern end, staying low as to not draw fire. 

Then we stepped out, hands raised waving a white flag, "Peace be unto you!"

"Who are you? What are you doing here?"

"We have come to speak to your commander. We are here in peace." I was desperately hoping my Farsi was good enough.

"Who are you?"

"I am Summers, an interpreter, this is Ballantine. We are here to warn you of an impending attack, please may we speak to your commander."

One of the Taliban soldiers came forward and removed Tom's pistol and knife as expected. They told me to open my coat and saw that I was carrying no weapons on my web gear, before they escorted us forward.

"Who are these people?"

"They call themselves Summers and Ballantine. I believe they are American soldiers, sir."

"I can see that. Why are they here?"

They surrendered to us and wanted to speak to you. They said there was an impending attack."

"Attack!" he glared at us, "What attack?"

"The force that destroyed your caravan. It is returning now that night has fallen. They are sweeping down from the north. They may only be a few miles away."

"Who is attacking?"

"They are called rakosh. They are a particularly vicious kind of eblis that needs fire or steel to kill. Your ammunition has enough steel if you can hit them in the throat or eye."

"Rakoshi? But that's just a legend!"

To the north there's a temple in a hidden canyon. That's where they took the bodies of your men to feed upon."

"Do you have any proof?"

"You saw the body," I pointed to the rakosh observation post, and he nodded.

"What body?" one of our escorts asked.

"Never mind," The commander looked slightly embarrassed.

"As we are all followers of the God of Abraham here. Maybe we can join up to destroy this evil?"

He thought for a moment, "They are closing quickly?"

I nodded vigorously.

"Can you point out their path?"

I nodded again and pointed towards the northern ridge.

"Alright, move the men up to the top of the southern canyon wall now! Are there any more of your forces out there?"

"A small group, light weapons only."

"Have them come out."

"Of course," I switched to english, "Tom, I think he's buying in get the team and Giles out with weapons slung."

"What about Faith?"

"She'll be fine, and we may need an ace in the hole."

Tom pointed at the radio on his webbing and the commander nodded that he could make the call. In a few moments the rest of the team came out of hiding and were immediately covered by a large amount of surly looking revolutionaries.

The commander waved them over and Giles bowed to him and offered him peace.

"You don't sound like an American?"

"I'm not, I'm a British Archeologist. These fellows rescued me from the demons."

"The rakosh?"

"Yes," he began polishing his glasses, "We don't have much time, they are almost here."

My hearing picked up a slayer yell, "B! We got company!"

"Sorry Giles, they are here!" I pointed at the blackish bodies pouring over the canyon wall and then I heard the the thud-thud-thud of rotor blades.

###  11\. Mad Minute

I called over to Tyler, "You still got comms?" he nodded, "Get a hold of Brigade, tell them that insurgents are attacking from the north side of the canyon and they are wearing black!"

"Got it Sarge!"

The Taliban commander was yelling at his troops to fire on the eblis or devils and ignore the Americans. The troops seemed more than willing to oblige. I started yelling in Farsi, "Aim for the eyes and throat!" and Giles and the commander joined in.

We were retreating across the canyon floor to the southern wall when the Apaches made their appearance. It looked like a wave of rakosh was pouring down the northern wall and now that people knew where to shoot them, they were dropping like flys. A couple of RPG gunners opened up and hand grenades were being used as well. The rakosh were so much faster than a normal human though they were across the canyon floor before the Taliban could blink. As they started their rush the Apaches opened up with a ripple salvo of rockets and blasted the ones still climbing down the canyon wall into paste.

I had run out of ammo for the AK so I was using the battle axe now, going into full slay mode. Faith was next to me with her knives and Giles had a broadsword out. A lot of the Taliban had fixed bayonets, and were doing their best to engage the charging rakosh in hand to hand. I heard US grenade launchers firing from above and saw my platoon opening up from the top of the south canyon wall. The axe got torn from my hands after I got it stuck in a ribcage, so I pulled the pair of entrenching tools and started hacking with them.

The Apaches had switched to their cannons and were continuing to lay down fire on the main group. Smoke and shrapnel covered the northern side. Finally the firing and the screams started dying out. Then a weird quiet settled over the canyon, broken only by the noise of the Apaches hovering a hundred feet up.

As the smoke cleared, we saw the canyon floor was covered with bodies, mainly rakosh. Tyler stumbled over to me.

"The Apache drivers are saying there are no more targets. Should they hold station?"

I looked around, "Tell them no and thanks! They saved our butts."

The commander walked over to me and stared at the goo dripping e-tools in my hands and the pile of bodies heaped around me and Faith, "What are you?"

"Me? I'm just a grunt."

  
After burning the rakosh bodies my platoon and the remains of the Taliban parted company. The LT wasn't sure what had just happened, but Mac persuaded him that we had assisted a unit of the Tajikistan army against border crossing Taliban raiders so he was happy, and insisted on writing the after action report. The battlefield absolutely reeked so it was easy keeping him away from it.

Faith and Giles took off to head back to England, and we called for a pickup as our OP was compromised. A week later I was on my way back to Evanston to get ready for the spring semester, a few letters of recommendation from the Brigade Commander and the Brigade Command Sergeant Major in my bag plus an offer to join 10th Mountain's Intelligence Battalion once I had graduated.

I'm still not sure what I'm going to do next, but I've realized I can't retire from stopping apocalypses so I shouldn't even try. They'll find me if I don't look for them. But, I'm a soldier now and I've got assets no Slayer has ever had before and damn it, I'm going to use them.

The End!

 

 

Cutter, Ballantine , and MacAllister's names are from the movie  _Gunga Din_.

 **Glossary**  
Troop Units (Infantry)  
**Battalion**  3-7 Companies about 300-1300 personnel. Commanded by Lieutenant Colonel  
**Company**  3-4 Platoons 100-140 personnel. Commanded by Captain  
**Platoon**  4-5 Squads 32-40 personnel. Commanded by Lieutenant  
**Squad**  2 Fireteams 8-10 personnel. Commanded by Staff Sergeant or Sergeant  
**Fireteam** 4-5 personnel. Commanded by Staff Sergeant or Sergeant.

AK-- AK-47 or Ak-74. Soviet Designed Assault Rifle. Very reliable and common.

AWACS-- Airborne Warning and Control System. A modified 707 with huge amounts of radar and surveillance and communications gear. 

CEOI-- Communication Electronics Operating Instructions. Radio codes for identity verification.

E-5-- Sergeant's pay grade.

LDAC-- Leader Development and Assessment Course. Advanced Leadership course for ROTC.

NCO-- Non-Commisionned Officer. A Sergeant.

RPG-- Rocket Propelled Grenade. Soviet Designed Anti-Tank and Anti-Infantry weapon.

SALUTE-- Mnemonic for reconnaissance information. Size, Activity, Location, Unit, Time, Equipment.

TDY-- Temporary Duty


End file.
